World News - Iran tests fires longer range missile as part of new maneuvers

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards test-fired dozen of missiles, including the long-range Shahab-3, during the first hours of new military maneuvers, Iranian state-run television said Thursday.The report said several kinds of short-range missiles were also fired in a central desert area of Iran during the maneuvers, which came two days after U.S.-led warships finished an exercise in the Gulf that Tehran described as "adventurist.""We want to show our deterrent and defensive power to trans-regional enemies, and we hope they will understand the message of the maneuvers," said the head of the Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, in an apparent reference to the US and other western powers.The general said the 10-day maneuvers, named "Great Prophet," would take place in the Gulf, the Sea of Oman and several provinces of the country. He did not specify how many troops were involved.... http://www.iht.com

Amid the furious debate over Iraq and the speculation that George Bush may be a lame duck after next Tuesday's mid-term elections, an extraordinary political milestone is approaching: a cantankerous 65-year-old called Bernie looks set to become the first socialist senator in US history.Bernie Sanders is so far ahead in the contest for Vermont's vacant seat for the US Senate that it seems only sudden illness or accident could derail his rendezvous with destiny, after eight terms as the state's only congressman. His success flies in the face of all the conventional wisdom about American politics. He is an unapologetic socialist and proud of it. Even his admirers admit that he lacks social skills, and he tends to speak in tirades. Yet that has not stopped him winning eight consecutive elections to the US House of Representatives....http://www.guardian.co.uk/midterms2006/story/0,,1937064,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

Breaking a deadlock, Guatemala and Venezuela on Wednesday chose Panama as a consensus candidate and withdrew from the race for a seat on the U.N. Security Council, Ecuador's U.N. ambassador said."They have agreed that Panama will be the country that will replace them as a candidate for the Security Council," said Ecuador's Diego Cordovez, who hosted talks between the foreign ministers of Guatemala and Venezuela. The 35-member Latin American and Caribbean group must still approve the choice after which the U.N. General Assembly has to vote. But the decision by Foreign Ministers Gert Rosenthal of Guatemala and Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela is expected to stand. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2622428

Prime Minister Tony Blair's government is undermining its opposition to torture in a misguided attempt to combat terrorism, Human Rights Watch charged in a report published Thursday.Since Sept. 11, 2001, Blair's government has at least once sought to use evidence extracted under torture in legal proceedings, has signed agreements to deport prisoners to countries where they may be tortured, and has turned a blind eye to U.S. mistreatment of prisoners and secret movement of suspects to countries where they could be abused, Human Rights Watch states."Opening the door to torture won't make Britain safer," Human Rights Watch's associate director Benjamin Ward said in a statement. "The most effective response to terrorism is good police and intelligence work, not setting aside core values."...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15519948/

Iraq and terrorism top the list of issues that Americans consider "extremely important" as the country heads into the November 7 mid-term elections, a CNN telephone poll released Wednesday found.Nearly half -- 49 percent -- said they consider Iraq "extremely important" in deciding how to vote. Terrorism followed closely, with 46 percent, in the poll conducted for CNN by Opinion Research Corp.The third most important issue was ethics in government, which 37 percent of respondents said they considered important. The nuclear standoff with North Korea was cited by 35 percent. The economy and the price of gas dropped in importance, with 62 percent of Americans saying the economy is in good shape and the price of gas ranking as the seventh most critical issue for voters. That's up from 44 percent who said in August they were concerned about those issues....http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/01/election.issues/index.html?eref=rss_us

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday that a draft U.N. Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program would isolate Iran, suggesting that Moscow will not back the resolution in its current form, news agencies reported. Russia has not ruled out sanctions against Iran but repeatedly has warned that harsh measures could harden Tehran's defiance and scuttle chances for a negotiated end to the prolonged standoff over its nuclear program. "We cannot support measures that in essence are aimed at isolating Iran from the outside world, including isolating people who are called upon to conduct negotiations on the nuclear program," Interfax quoted Lavrov as saying. The European resolution is meant to punish Iran for its refusal to halt uranium enrichment activities that have heightened fears it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2622650